Headphone EQ

Sony WH-1000XM5 EQ settings for Mac

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Sony WH-1000XM5 has 3 published AutoEQ corrections, from 3 measurement rigs, and this page carries every one of them. macOS has no system-wide equalizer of its own, so applying a correction to everything your Mac plays, rather than inside a single player, needs an app that sits on the system audio path.

• Who it is for: anyone listening to the Sony WH-1000XM5 on a Mac who wants its measured tonal balance pulled toward a neutral target.
• What a correction is: a set of equalizer filters that the open-source AutoEQ project computes by comparing a published measurement of the headphone with a target curve.
• What this page holds: for every measurement, the curve, its parametric filters, the same filters as copy-paste text, a ten-band version and a one-click EQBase preset.
• What it cannot do: it changes frequency response only. It will not make up for worn pads or for distortion, and it was measured on someone else's pair, not yours.
• What you need: any parametric equalizer takes the filters, on any platform. The preset needs EQBase, free on macOS 14.4 or later.

Worth knowing: This is the largest average correction on any page here, a little over 2 dB across the ten bands, because the XM5's stock tuning sits some way from the target these curves aim at. The three rigs that measured it agree unusually well by comparison, within about 4 dB at their widest. The XM5 is a different headphone from the XM4, with a smaller driver and its own page.

What the Sony WH-1000XM5 correction changes

These figures come from the measurement by oratory1990, the one the picker below opens with. The largest boost is +4.6 dB at upper midrange (2 kHz), and the largest cut is −4.0 dB at upper bass (125 Hz). Total swing across the ten bands is 8.6 dB. Averaged over its bands the bass is pulled back by 2.9 dB, more than the other two, which is where most of the audible change lands.

The 3 published measurements on this page, from 3 rigs, do not agree with each other, and the size of the disagreement is worth knowing before picking one. They differ most at upper midrange (2 kHz), where the ten-band figures span 4.3 dB, and least at upper bass (125 Hz), where they span 0.3 dB.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 corrections, measurement by measurement

Pick a measurement to see its correction curve, its parametric filters, the same filters as copy-paste text in AutoEQ's format (which Equalizer APO and Peace, REW and most desktop parametric equalizers import, and which EQBase's own Expert EQ reads and writes), and EQBase's ten-band version, which is what the downloadable preset applies.

Preamp: -6.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain -3.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 2448 Hz Gain 6.9 dB Q 2.46
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 173 Hz Gain -5.6 dB Q 0.96
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 3028 Hz Gain -5.4 dB Q 2.03
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1327 Hz Gain 3.3 dB Q 0.58
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain 4.9 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 6110 Hz Gain -2.3 dB Q 5.81
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 875 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 4.07
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 1197 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 3.28
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 63 Hz Gain 0.4 dB Q 2.13

Preamp: -4.2 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain -2.4 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 162 Hz Gain -4.9 dB Q 0.77
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1069 Hz Gain 4.5 dB Q 0.64
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1672 Hz Gain -3.6 dB Q 2.91
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 72 Hz Gain 1.7 dB Q 1.77
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain 4.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 3359 Hz Gain -2.2 dB Q 3.34
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2550 Hz Gain 1.9 dB Q 5.34
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 5848 Hz Gain 1.3 dB Q 5.58
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 884 Hz Gain -0.7 dB Q 4.97

Preamp: -6.6 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain -4.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 172 Hz Gain -5.3 dB Q 0.86
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1100 Hz Gain 4.8 dB Q 1.19
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 4535 Hz Gain 3.7 dB Q 3.39
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 64 Hz Gain 1.7 dB Q 1.64
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain 6.7 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 8970 Hz Gain 3.8 dB Q 4.58
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 6277 Hz Gain -3.2 dB Q 5.41
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 2999 Hz Gain -2.6 dB Q 4.70
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 2430 Hz Gain 2.1 dB Q 6.00

Ten-band or parametric EQ for the Sony WH-1000XM5?

A parametric equalizer lets every filter take any frequency, gain and width, where width is written as Q and a higher Q means a narrower filter, so it can reproduce AutoEQ's filters exactly. A ten-band graphic equalizer has ten fixed bands an octave apart, from 31 Hz to 16 kHz, all the same width, so it can only approximate them. EQBase's ten-band version sets those ten gains to match the parametric curve at the band centers, allowing for how the bands overlap, rather than reading the curve off at each center.

On oratory1990's measurement, the ten-band version stays within 2.6 dB of the parametric curve between 40 Hz and 10 kHz. Across all 8,666 corrections in EQBase's catalog the median for that range is 3.3 dB, which makes the Sony WH-1000XM5 a typical fit for ten bands. The largest of those gaps sits around 2.5 kHz, where a boosting filter at 2.45 kHz with a Q of 2.5 is far narrower than a one-octave band can follow.

Use the parametric filters if your equalizer accepts them: they are the correction exactly as published. The ten-band version is for equalizers with fixed sliders, EQBase's free tier among them, and it is what the downloadable preset applies. On EQBase Pro, applying the Sony WH-1000XM5 from the Headphones pane uses the parametric filters directly, and the preset carries them as well, one switch to Expert EQ away. AutoEQ publishes its own ten-band file on the same grid, fitted to the raw measurement rather than to these filters, so the two agree closely through the midrange and can differ at the extremes.

How to use the Sony WH-1000XM5 correction on a Mac

To use the Sony WH-1000XM5 correction on a Mac, apply it with an equalizer that runs on system audio, so it reaches every app at once. In EQBase the fastest route skips this page: open the Headphones pane, search for the Sony WH-1000XM5, which is in the built-in catalog of 6,033 models, and click the measurement you want. The preset above does the same from a file, for anyone who wants to see the numbers first or a specific measurement rather than the default one.

Either way the free tier carries it with no time limit. The Sony WH-1000XM5 preset above sets the ten-band curve, which is what the free tier applies, so nothing on this page is behind a purchase.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 is worn around the ear, where the pads decide a good deal of what the measurement rig saw. Worn or replaced pads move the response, which is why several models here carry separate curves for exactly that. If yours are old, expect the correction to be a near miss rather than an exact one.

Most of the measurements behind this page were made with the headphone in its normal listening mode, and active noise cancelling changes the response it is correcting. Switching ANC or transparency on and off is not a small tone change, so a correction that sounds right in one mode may not in another.

Common questions about Sony WH-1000XM5 EQ

Do these EQ settings work on any Mac app?

Yes, if the equalizer runs on system audio rather than inside one player. EQBase processes everything the Mac plays, so the same correction applies to Spotify, Safari, YouTube, games and calls. The Music app's own equalizer only affects Music.

Where do the Sony WH-1000XM5 numbers come from?

From 3 published AutoEQ measurements of the Sony WH-1000XM5, made by oratory1990, Rtings and Super Review. Each one is a real frequency-response measurement compared against a target curve, and each produces its own set of filters. They are all on this page rather than averaged together, because a measurement belongs to the person who made it.

Why is the Sony WH-1000XM5 preamp negative?

The Sony WH-1000XM5 correction needs −6.2 dB of headroom on its default measurement, so the preset pulls the signal down by that much before the boosts are applied. Boosting a signal that is already near full scale would clip it, and the negative preamp is what buys the room. Skip it and loud passages distort. That is a large figure by the standards of this catalog, which is normal for a model whose correction lifts the bass a long way.

Can I use these filters in a different equalizer?

Yes. The filter table is a standard parametric list: type, frequency, gain and Q. Any parametric equalizer that accepts those four values per band will take them, on any platform. The one-click preset is only a shortcut for EQBase users.

Other headphones with published corrections

• Sony WF-1000XM5 EQ settings for Mac, 5 published measurements
• Sony WH-1000XM4 EQ settings for Mac, 3 published measurements
• Apple AirPods Pro 2 EQ settings for Mac, 18 published measurements
• Apple AirPods 4 EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements
• Apple AirPods Max EQ settings for Mac, 4 published measurements

Credits

Correction data from the AutoEQ project by Jaakko Pasanen, used under the MIT licence. The measurements themselves are the work of the people credited on each curve above. EQBase ships the same catalog in the app, with the same attribution.

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